Revelations and Revolution
by TR-Emperor
Summary: Karolyn undergoes a painful resurfacing of her past, but the experience only strengthens the relationship between her and Ridley.
1. Default Chapter

The figure floated silently in the container. His hide was not yet fully developed, giving him a pigmentation that was slightly pink, but still, he was a menacing figure. Thousands of small bubbles of air rose up through the luminescent gel. He was only semiconscious inside the giant bio-tank. Faint voices outside of the thick glass of the tank made their way to his ears. Lazily, he opened his eyes. A red glow was cast over the immediate area of his face. He looked left and right, his vision was blurred due to the consistency of the gel. Despite that he could still make out the twisted shapes of the laboratory. Machines and computers whirred about as dozens of small beings rushed around. Above his head, he viewed a screen that displayed his bio-readings. The information on the screen was too warped to decipher. He was too tired to read them anyways. He let his gaze slip downward and saw a meager, distorted figure eyeing him.

The small pirate nodded somewhere off to his left. He noticed the grating at the bottom of the tank open up, and the gel was slowly drained out. Minutes later, he was suspended mid-air by yards of tubing attached to the base of his skull, arms, legs, spine, stomach, and wing joints. His long, spiked tail swung carelessly back and forth, gently hitting the sides of the glass. He heard the sounds of the sedatives making their way down the tubes, and soon, he fell into unconsciousness.

The operating room was dark, although that didn't make much difference with his night vision. He tried to get up, but then realized that he was strapped down to a wide operating table. He lifted his reptillian head looked around the room.

All along the walls were robotic arms, each with different surgical tools. Some gave off a slight reflection, giving them an ominous look. Off in the distance he could hear a low droning sound. Soon, a small hovering droid appeared in front of him.

The droid had four main sections to it. The main part was triangularly shaped, with the back extending out into a fine point, and the front was well rounded with multiple lenses in the center. There were two disks extended on either sides of the droid, each one with emanating a faint blue glow. And right below the main segment, was a scorpion-like tail with a long needle attached.

It hovered over his head, and forced the needle into the small hole behind his head. Green light flowed from the droid to the insertion point in his head, and his vision had turned into what seemed like a black screen. Letters soon began to flash across the black void.

Bio-Subject: #3763 A.K.A. Ridley

I.D. A2967G29FF86.2

Reincarnation: V.6

Bio stats: 86 operational capacity

Initiating memory restoration procedure: Activating file #34.A-X3457

He was tossed into a confusing vortex of mindless noises and meaningless images. The pictures and noises filled his head, making him feel more stuffed, and more aware. Gradually each picture took on more meaning as his old memories, thoughts, and personality were poured into his new body. Every last fiber of his being was being reinserted, and was reforming the creature that was so very near perfection: _Ridley_. Yes, the most dangerous life-form in the universe, pride of the Space Pirates, and sworn enemy of the Galactic Federation was returning.

He forced his way through the darkness. Everything came back into view. His head broke through the straps of the table. He opened his mouth and let an incinerating flame escape, and utterly destroyed the small droid. His arm ripped through the straps and pulled the needle out of the back of his head. He broke through the rest of the chains, stood tall, and gave a long ear-piercing screech. He was back.

He lowered his head and calmly began to breath. That was the twenty-seventh med-droid he had destroyed. He had a habit of killing the first thing he saw after coming out of a medical procedure. Not that it mattered too much to him though.

"I see you have finished your memory restoration." Said a synthetic feminine voice. A screen appeared at the other end of the room. A wrinkled, spiked mass of pink with a single piercing eye was addressing him. "And you made a mess. After seven lives, one would think you would've learned by this point." It said, with a slight hint of amusement.

Ridley lowered his orange wings, put his thick, scaly right hand across his chest, and lowered his head. "Mother-Brain." He saluted. "I am grateful for you seeing fit to revive me."

"You are simply to great an asset to be discarded. Only very few have ever earned such significance." She commented. "As I am sure you are aware of, you are scheduled for augmentation. Lie down on the designated area so that we can begin the procedure."

A large panel of the floor lit up. Ridley glanced at the screen, and then walked toward the panel. As he settled onto the floor, pedestals rose up and contorted to whatever part of him it was holding up. He was pushed upward at about ten feet into the air. He let out a slow breath. The mechanical arms extended from their slots in the wall and began to work their way towards him. "I'd like to be permitted to make an inquiry." He requested.

"Permission granted." The Mother-Brain replied, sounding somewhat distracted at the task at hand.

"How long has it been since my last termination?"

The Mother-Brain's eye slightly changed color, and small sparks of electricity leaped from her spikes. "Precisely six months, two weeks, four days, twelve hours, and twenty-seven minutes. Will that be all?"

"No, what type of augmentation am I about to undertake?" he questioned, yet again.

"Biomechanical." She answered.

He thought to himself. It had been roughly six and a half months since he "died." The engineers were improving considerably in their cloning techniques. At first it used to take a year, now, they've cut that time in half. But still, the fact that they were improving meant that he was being killed so many times that it was beginning to become routine. His dying streak was becoming highly unacceptable to the respect and pride he commanded. His thoughts wondered to the one who was highly responsible for his deaths in the first place. But they were cut short due to the pain of having his spine being dissasembled by twenty robotic saws.

The exotic metals that were grafted onto him gave him a choked feeling. But, if memory served him, such discomforts should wear off in two weeks. He had gone through such a procedure before. He reached his arm out and flexed his hand. As he did so, his claws grew by twice their size. They could now slice through practically any metal now. His strength was easily increased by two-thirds. The casing around his skull was unusually itchy though. The Mother-Brain simply explained it as the artificial fibers bonding with his sensitive tissue. He would just have to wait it out.

His augmentations were not yet complete. The anti-grav shields still needed to be installed into his steel-framed wings. And, all of his weapon systems were not in place. The only weapons he did have was his tail, his claws, and his newly enhanced flame-breath.

He heard a door to his quarters open up. He turned around and saw a servant-droid with a large plate of food hovering toward him. He stared at the droid. "State your presence." He commanded.

A green glow illuminated the droids lenses as it spoke. "I have received orders that your ration intake is to be increased by a half, due to your heightened metabolism."

Ridley stared down at the plate. It was a platter of Grigrean eggs, Mynin chops, and an oversized glass of Synyl tea. All were very dense in nutrients, not to mention considered an extreme delicacy.

The droid placed the food on a table and Ridley waved it away and sat down. As he ate his food, his thoughts were turned to the one adversary who he had considered worthy.

The human clad in metal, the only one who had been able kill him, and on separate occasions at that. The lower, more superstitious, Pirates referred to it as the Hunter. He, however, had more knowledge of this being. It was, in fact, a female with unprecedented skill and strength. Only by fortune did he find out her name.

It was classified as a high-risk operation by many, but he simply saw it something as a milk-run. The operation included breaking into a high-security GF compound and obtaining a Metroid specimen. He recklessly barged in, and stole it, along with a data disc containing information on it. As an unforeseen bonus, the disc also explained how the Metroid was captured, along with the name of who captured it.

After that day, he knew the name of his maron: Samus Aran. Since then, he did all he could to track her down, so that he may dispose of her and regain some of his fallen dignity. Unfortunately, the human was extremely wily and was nearly impossible to locate. Perhaps on his next encounter he might be able to-

"Ridley, you know you're wasting your time over such matters."

Ridley jumped up, nearly knocking over the table. He looked wildly around his room. His motion sensors weren't indicating anything. Nothing came up on infared. _Where did it come from?_ He checked the communicator in his room, and it wasn't on. "You mean you don't know?" The voice inquired. It was a female voice, and it sounded highly amused. It wasn't the Mother-Brain, but it did indeed sound familiar. Then it dawned on him. He then ran as quickly as he could down the cramped corridors of the Space-Pirate headquarters. He approached the security gates of the command room where four Space-Pirate commandos were standing guard. Even before he could show his security clearance, the guards were already beginning to open the doors at the sight of the fearsome space-dragon.

The metal doors slowly opened up and there she was.

"I take it that you figured it out then." Said the other space-dragon. "It seems that death didn't wipe away your curse of knowing me."

Ridley stared at her and replied "Karolyn, every time I manage to forget, I die and the nightmares return. It is the only thing I regret with reincarnation." At this they both laughed lightly. Ridley was suddenly at ill-ease, for it was rare for him to find humor in his defeats.

A communication screen was activated. It was the Mother-Brain who was being transmitted. "I believe that I have neglected to tell you about another feature in your modifications. I have installed a communications chip in your brain, it features a direct link to Karolyn that can be used at any time, and she can do likewise."

Ridley eyes widened slightly at this. He felt highly uncomfortable with the idea of having his thoughts being shared with someone else. The idea of complaining crossed his mind, but decided to hold his tongue, and instead made a separate inquiry. "What purpose does such a communication device hold?"

The image of the Mother-Brain quivered slightly. "Whenever you had been revived, you were immediately placed on guard duties. I have formulated that one with such skill would be more useful taking part in a more…aggressive role. I have decided to use you in a series of strikes against critical Galactic-Federation operations."

Ridley smiled inwardly at this new assignment. Even though guard duty was usually reserved for the strongest of the Mother-Brain's disciples, he had always found it to be quite dull. Of curse, he died every time it became interesting. This new field-oriented range of goals sounded much more compelling. "I am thankful for the objectives you have given me, but why is the com-link necessary?"

"As you are aware of, this is a more dangerous occupation; the chances of your fatalities are increased dramatically. Although your augmentations will serve you well, we cannot afford to have you…needlessly spent. That is why Karolyn will provide assistance in your endeavors. Two space-dragons are better than one. And, the link will serve you well, allowing you to constantly communicate in complete silence."

He realized the genius behind the Mother-Brain's actions. They would not have to talk to communicate. This could be utilized to produce devastating ambushes much easier. And, the extra support of a fellow space-dragon was no doubt a very distinct field-advantage. "Yes, I comprehend now." He said submissively.

The single eye of the Mother-Brain contracted "Good, because you have a mission tomorrow."

Ridley woke up early that day. He was at full operational capacity. The engineers were able to install the remainder of his equipment with lightning speed. The com-link went off in his head. "The Brain wants us in the briefing room ASAP."

That was about the only thing Ridley didn't like about Karolyn. She never took anything completely seriously. She had been doing that ever since he met her as a child.

"Confirmed." Ridley replied. The com-link was remarkably simple to use, all he had to do was to concentrate on talking and the rest was self-explanatory. He stood up and walked from his quarters to the briefing room.

The doors opened up to the relatively small room. He had to lower his head considerably to enter. Inside he saw Karolyn, ten commandos, and a Pirate tactician standing before a holographic projector.

The old Pirate nodded in approval once Ridley entered. He pressed a button on the projector, and a display of a brown, sparsely forested planet appeared. The Pirate whipped out a stick and pointed to the planet. "Yorena IV, located in the outskirts of the Pro-Eranus region. It is approximately 2,345.74 light years from our current position. Total flight time should be around twelve hours. The planet is relatively small, bearing almost no strategic value. Galactic-Federation seems to have found out otherwise though." The commandos all let out a snarl of disapproval at the mention of their enemy. The Pirate grinned and continued. "Four cycles ago, a GF probe scanned the planet and found high concentrations of Nalrynium. As some of you may know, that is an _extremely_ resilient metal normally reserved for Guardian-class GF cruisers. If we are able to get a hold of the minerals, they would serve us another welcomed advantage in space-combat. Our Nalrynium stores for the Assailant cruisers are becoming alarmingly low, so this will be a decisive victory."

The Pirate pressed another button. The display zoomed in to show the GF compound on the planet. It was set next to a canyon, low to the ground, and quite compact. The only visible defenses were multiple turrets surrounding the base. "The compound is guarded by anti-air turrets located every five-hundred yards outward for mile. These turrets are able to fire high enough to into space to strike any approaching cruisers, and powerful enough to destroy them. They also have a fast enough recharge time to repel an assault by our Insectile fighters. Therefore, we must send in a small strike team to infiltrate, and disable the turrets. That is where you come in."

He pressed a button yet again. This time the display showed what seemed to be a generator. "This is the power source of the turrets. From what the long-range scanners can tell, it is covered with two meters of Nalrynium. Normally, we would just bombard the generator, but the Mother-brain wants to leave as much of the base in tact to save time and begin mining operations as soon as we can. You will approach the planet in a stealth-equipped drop ship about twenty miles from the base. From there you will basically get as close to the compound as possible without detection. The generator is located at the north of the compound. Your goal is to destroy it as fast as possible. I believe that Ridley's flame-breath should be sufficient to break the armor. As soon as the generator is destroyed, send us a communication, and then we will send in an invasion force of two Assailant cruisers and fifty Insectiles. The ships will be located half a light-year away from the planet. After we receive the communication, it should take ten minutes for reinforcements to arrive, and until then you will be on your own. Intelligence tells us that there is at least five-hundred GF troopers on duty." The pirate let out an irritated sigh and continued. "The Mother-Brain has also made it clear for you to kill the troopers with the least amount of damage to their combat suits as possible. She wishes to salvage them and use the technology for our own means." The pirate scanned the room over. A strike-team of two space-dragons and ten commandos seemed to be over-kill to him. But then again, you can never do over-kill with GF slime.

"Head to the hanger immediately and await further instruction." The Pirate ordered.

Ridley exited the room, followed by his team. "How do you size it up?" Karolyn asked. "Nothing more than thirty minutes." He replied.

The squad entered the hangar bay. All around were Pirates hurrying to make repairs, build more ships, or simply bickering amongst themselves. Dozens of ships from personal Insectiless to the mammoth Assailants lined the ceilings and walls. Ridley looked up and stared at the Pirate flagship, the _Cerebrum Aggression. _The ship was over a mile and a half long and one mile wide. Truly no other ship came close to its grandeur. But, they weren't to be privileged to fly in it. Instead, they were to be taking the _Uprising Conflict_.

The _Uprising Conflict_, along with the _Marauding Supremacy _were making their way to Pro-Eranus. Ridley and the rest of the team were already settled into their seats in the drop ship. He snatched a view of their pilot and was very surprised. He seemed very old, yet highly capable. His presence was a rare one because Space-Pirates rarely ever lived to such an age. They are in hostile territory so frequently that it was considered a miracle if one lived past forty.

The pirate gave a strange stare at Ridley, then walked toward the cock-pit and strapped in. The glare of the old Pirate gave him an unsettling feeling. His voice came over the intercom. "The ships will begin to slow down in approximately ten minutes. Once we reach light speed, the hangar bays will open and we'll use the momentum to make it toward the planet." Once the Pirate mentioned this, one of the commandos gave a slight screech of surprise. Ridley saw nothing wrong with this procedure. It was common to launch small ships at light-speed during infiltration operations. They were constructed well enough to take the force. "Once we reach our destination, I'll release the locks and drop you to the surface."

"No flying for twenty miles. I must say that will suck." Karolyn complained over the com-link. Ridley shook his head at her comment and didn't reply.

A mission clock and bio-readouts for his team appeared in the lower left corner of his vision. The pilot's raspy old voice came on over the intercom. "Okay, here we go."

No sooner did he finished talking did the hangar doors open up and the drop ship was thrown out into the spinning vortex of space.

End of part 1

Part 2: After the operation, Ridley discovers the terrible truth about the connection between him and the Space-Pirates


	2. Painful recollections

The interior of the drop-ship was a mass of confusion. The lights sporadically flickered on and off. The entire ship rocked in all directions. Any equipment wasn't strapped down was being thrown about, hitting the ship's passengers. The section that separated the head of the ship to its "tail" was teetering on the brink of being torn away. Had the ship been of _any_ lower quality, it would have surely been destroyed by the stress of near light-speed.

Ridley checked the bio-readouts of his teammates. All of them read normal, giving the situation, with the exception of Alic-til. He looked over and discovered, much to his disgust, that he had vomited inside his helmet. Ridley shook his head at this disgrace. Any good commando would've been able to stomach such turbulences. He would need to reevaluate the commando's credentials, along with that pilot. It was most strange that a Pirate of his age to still be on duty.

Ridley shook his head; there would be plenty of time for speculation later. He checked the estimated time left to planet-fall. Ten minutes and forty-three seconds.

He focused on the clock that was fixed in his lower, right-hand vision. Each passing second made him all the more cold, more hateful, and blood-thirsty. The fire in his eyes grew in their intensity as he was once again given a chance to torment the people that caused him so much suffering. It had been too long since he had such a rush before battle.

Unlike many of the Space-Pirates, Ridley did not harbor a blind hatred towards the Galactic Federation. He tended to a well-founded spite for the cursed tyrannical government. Slowly, the vicious tentacles of old memories wrapped around his mind and cast him back into that fateful day.

He forgot how many years it had been since then. But the wear of time had no affect on this particular recollection. Visions of his childhood home-planet flooded his mind. He clearly remembered how far the fertile, green fields stretched on and on, and met with the clear sky that he would soar for hours in. The water of the lakes was like sweet, sweet nectar to him. Countless animals ran across the ground, providing him with a near endless supply of food.

He lived on the small planet with his mother. It was the perfect place for the young space-dragon to grow up. He would swoop up and down the deep canyons that covered the planet. The sun would shine down on his wings as he soared over the endless plains of his home. Life was perfect for him. For a long time he did not yet know of the evils that plagued the galaxy as he soon would.

"Not bad. Soon enough we can start flying in the upper atmosphere at this rate," shouted his mother as they were soaring high over the ground, "then we can get started on space-flight."

This statement puzzled Ridley. Was his mother crazy? Why would they ever want to leave this place? "Why would we want to that?" he asked innocently.

For a moment her face turned grim and tormented. The yellow light from her eyes quivered slightly. Then she swept the expression away and just stared straight into the oncoming clouds.

"Who taught you to fly?" He asked.

"My father did." she stated with a strong hint of sadness and resentment mixed into her voice. "That was a long time ago though. This is a flying lesson, not history."

Ridley scoffed under his breath at the comment. He knew next to nothing about his history. He asked his mother countless questions about the past, most of which dealt with his father. The only thing that she told him was that he gave everything he had to make sure that they lived like they did, and she would love nothing better for him to have known him. Everything else she either gave him a vague answer, or ignored the question completely.

His mother took a deep dive, and Ridley followed her. They went into a deep canyon with large trees jutting out from the sides and a strong river flowing at its base. She weaved in and out of the gaps of the twisted vines and branches. Ridley did the same with slight difficulty, they had been practicing this for four days already and he was getting better.

She pulled up and out of the canyon, looped, dived straight for the water while dodging the branches, and pulled up right before she hit the water. With some skill of the wing and a bit of luck, Ridley was able to pull this off as well.

The two dragons skimmed along the river and flew towards the sky. Ridley was starting to get tired. His mother had been increasing his training lately. He would definitely get cramps later.

His mother looked at him lovingly. "Very good, you're getting much better. I think we should take a-"

Her voice was drowned out by the screech of laser fire. Ridley turned his long neck and viewed a bulky, metallic-blue and silver ship that was at least twice the size of his mother. It had two fan-shaped wings, with double-barreled laser cannons, that were attached to the ship on their centers. Its front was a reflective dome with single-barreled cannons on either side. The strange, foreign object awakened some deep fear within him.

He looked at his mother for some kind of reassurance. Her eyes were glowing intensely. Her expression was one of rage and fear.

"Go to the canyon," his mother said firmly, "now."

He was about to reply, but seven blasts came from the ship when his mouth was halfway open. He then flew towards the canyon as fast as his then-small-wings could carry him. He was constantly glancing back towards his mother.

He saw her turn around and fly toward the ship, and fire several balls of flame from her mouth. The ship performed a sharp turn to its side, dodging the flame, and responded with a dozen laser blasts.

Several of them hit her leg and she let out an ear-piercing screech of pain. She quickly recuperated and flew under the ship and lashed her tail against the bottom of the ship. The jagged razors of her tail barely scratched its armor.

The ship swerved around and charged at the space-dragon head-on. It unleashed a torrent of laser-fire, several of which hit Ridley's mother in the chest. The silver mechanism pulled up and fired its double-barreled cannon into her back and out her stomach.

The last Ridley saw of his mother was her twitching body fall strike the ground, he then dove into the canyon and didn't see the rest.

Ridley landed beneath the canopy of the trees and perched on a thick branch. Large, orange, steaming drops of tears streamed down his beak. He had to figure something out. He had to get things together. He was about to cry out when a second ship swooped into the canyon and opened fire.

His eyes widened at the threat. He paused momentarily and lurched off the branch and down to the river. The ravaging waters were scarcely ten feet below him. After a few moments went by, nothing could be heard except for the raging waters. He thought he was safe, and then the ship broke through the trees and sent huge branches falling into water.

One of the branches hit him across the back. He cried out as a sharp pain bolted up his spine. He faltered and tried to regain his balance. That was when the ship sent fired several times and hit his wings.

He plunged head-first into water. His small body was tossed about in the rapids. Water was being poured into his lungs. He began to lose all of his senses. Slowly, he grew calmer, he didn't fight as much, and he comfortably blacked out.

A raspy voice made its way to Ridley's ears. "What type of damage does he have?"

Another voice, slightly muffled responded. "There are several blast holes in the wing membrane. . There's also a broken leg, two fractured ribs and he's missing some teeth.

Ridley came opened his eyes and tried to jump back. He found that he couldn't do that because he was strapped down to a table.

He shook his head wildly. He was surrounded by monsters. They were green, beaked, insect-like beings with long, pointy claws. One of them approached him and inserted a syringe into his neck.

After a while he calmed down a bit and nervously asked, "Who are you?"

One of the strange beings sat next to him and explained to him everything that had happened and then some.

As it turned out, the ship that shot down his mother belonged to the Galactic Federation. The organization said that they existed to promote ideals and peace among the galaxy, but it was just a lie. This "government" had turned many species into outlaws. It had ordered the "complete obliteration of groups deemed hazardous for the good of the galaxy."

But one particular group rose up against the cruelty of the bloodthirsty government. It was a collection of several races that had the courage and technology capable of overthrowing the Galactic Federation. The Federation called them "Space-Pirates," and convinced the ignorant members of their empire that they were evil.

Ridley's race was one of those who were scheduled for genocide. The space-dragons were on the brink of extinction. In their precious few, the race pledged allegiance with the Space-Pirates, and fought along their side.

The Galactic Federation then launched a campaign specifically for the destruction of space-dragons. Hundreds more of them died terrible deaths. His mother was able to escape to a planet that she thought she was safe. There she stayed for years, raising her son.

Eventually, several Galactic Federation ships found the planet. They came down and killed his mother. Luckily though, an Assailant cruiser was also in the system had tracked the ships and shot them down. A surveillance team located Ridley, who had washed up on a bank, and took him back to the cruiser.

Everything that happened after that was exactly what Ridley could've hoped for. They nursed him back to health, and raised him. He excelled in combat and quickly won the respect of his peers. He immediately applied for field duty after he was old enough. He would never forget the satisfaction he received after his claws were stained with Federation blood.

His ruthlessness in the field earned him the respect and acknowledgment of the Mother-Brain. He was placed on missions where his simple desire for revenge would be put into the most effect. He relished the crippling blows he had dealt to them.

But still…

Ridley looked up and saw Karolyn turn her head and cover her eyes.


	3. Lethal Indulgences

Ridley heard the booming noise of the drop-ship's reverse engines firing. The ship started to slow down, rapidly. The momentum from the sudden decrease in speed sent him and his squad lurching side-ways in their high-impact seats. He could barely hear the Pirate's cursing underneath the deafening sound of the engines and the rocking of the ship.

"Squad Commander, I have visual confirmation of the planet, we'll arrive there in two minutes," went the voice of the old Pirate on Ridley's secondary com-link. "Once we get in close enough, I'll pull into a low orbit, and launch the drop-pod."

"Acknowledged," Ridley replied.

"Two minutes," he repeated to himself. Two more minutes and his claw would once again run with the red blood of his enemy. He could already feel the fire coming from his throat and into the face of a GF Trooper. Ah, how good it will-

"I'm picking something up from the planet," the pilot yelled with curiosity over the com-link. "It's cloaked whatever it-ah, son-of-a-bitch." the Pirate cried out in fear and anger.

Ridley pressed on his com-link, "Pilot, what is the objects identity?" he said sternly.

"It's a damned PDGF-Cruiser! Those bastards have a PDGF-Cruiser," the pilot blurted out.

"What? Give me access to the ships view screen," Ridley commanded.

"Yes Commander, right away," responded the pilot.

The ship's camera replaced Ridley's vision. Against the dark-side of the planet, he could see the hulking gray Planetary-Defender Galactic-Federation Cruiser. Hundreds of turrets lined the ship's heavily armored frame, and they all stated to aim towards them.

Karolyn's voice went off in Ridley's head, "Good Lord, how could the long-range scanners not pick this up?"

Ridley needed to think fast. "Pilot, contact _Marauding Supremacy_ and tell them

we need immediate back-up."

"Yes sir, contacting now," replied the pilot with fear laced in his voice. There

was a momentary pause as he switched to the long-range communicator. "_Marauding Supremacy_, this is drop-ship number 105-A438 C113. We have identified a PDGF-Cruiser located in planetary-sector 45.382, by 13.803. Requesting immediate assistance."

The garbled voice of a pirate responded. "Negative, we can't send in the

Assailants while those turrets are still act…try to make…uo copy that…it pla" the signal was suddenly cut short by the oncoming laser firing that was zooming past the drop-ship.

"Damn it! Fine, Commander, I'm going to come in as close to the drop-zone as I can and I'll fire the drop-pod," yelled the pilot over the com-link.

"Acknowledged," Ridley replied. He looked over at his team, Karolyn had a look of concern, not fear, and the commandos portrayed no feeling at all, with the exception of Alic-Til, who was shaking violently. Shameful.

Ridley's view of the ship's camera was cut off, but he could still feel the rapid motions of the vessel. The ship burst forward as it sped up to avoid the cannon-fire from the Cruiser. The interior vibrated as dozens of lasers dangerously whisked past the small ship. The untiring whine of lasers hammered at him. If one even hit the ship, he would die instantly and not even know it. He did not need another reincarnation so close to his last one.

The webbing of the high-impact seats was barely absorbing the heavy G-forces. His head was being pressed against the seat. He felt as if his brain was slowly being pushed out the back of his skull. Dear God, they hadn't even began the impact landing.

He felt the ship pull into a sharp curve as it began to enter orbit around the planet. "Commander I'm now releasing the pod's locks. You should land right on top of the base. Good luck, Sir." Said the pilot with a somber finality in his voice.

Before Ridley managed to activate the com-link and give a thankful farewell, the drop-pod released and blasted them toward the surface.

G-forces tugged at Ridley. His eyes were squeezed tight; his reinforced jaws were clamping down. The pressure felt almost twice as bad. He felt grateful that he had his bodily mass increased in its durability, otherwise it would've been much worse.

"How are you holding out," he asked Karolyn over the com-link.

"I've been better," she replied with strain mixed with her mental voice.

Just a little longer, he thought, just a-

They landed. The pod hit the ground with a strong force. Ridley's head slammed against the side of the impact chair. He could feel the pod pushing against the dirt and rocks until it abruptly stopped against an unknown structure, forcing his head against the impact chair a second time. He would have a headache later, he thought to himself.

"How do you think I feel? At least you have a metal plate around your skull. I can already feel the migraines," Karolyn commented.

"My condolences," he thought sarcastically while getting out of the impact chair.

He walked toward the edge of the pod, which settled at a slightly upturned angle, and gave his commands. "My sole concern is the destruction of the generator, not you're safety. That is Karolyn's role, and any act of stupidity might make her forget that. Activate your cloaks, and form a perimeter around the base, but don't go in. Just keep the GF slime caged in, as they should be." He grasped his claw around the pod's hatch, the bloodlust was beginning to climb up his spine. His voice grew more crazed and sinister. "Just stay out of my way."

He then twisted off the hatch and burst through the opening. There were already seventeen GF-troopers surrounding the four-foot pit the pod had formed, and more were coming. His sudden emergence combined with his menacing stature and reputation sent them stepping back nervously and opening fire without order.

He quickly assessed the field. It was night, excellent. The pod had landed against one of the turret towers, leaving a landing trail eighty feet long, and about four feet deep and fifteen feet wide. He could see the base forty yards off to his right. He could only assume the generator was close by.

Now, he thought to himself. Now.

He reared his head back let his flame-breath fly from his mouth. The fire blasted across seven troops, sending them running screaming in agony as their metal armor melted against their skin and finally collapsing on the ground charred, and twitching.

The bullets from their guns reflected harmlessly off of Ridley's armor plating. He let off a screech and charged forward and sent a GF-Trooper flying through the air and landing on his neck. Three troopers came in behind him. He twisted his long neck back and snarled nastily. His razor-edged tail twisted to the side and swiped at them, clearing the troopers in two. He tuned around, and pulled his tail along his face and examined the red blood that dripped from his nalrynium-plated tail segments. He looked up and thrust it into the chest of on oncoming trooper. The feeling of his tail bursting through the hard armor of the trooper, and out the other side gave him a brief sense of satisfaction.

That feeling soon wore off and was replenished by him swinging the writhing body off into another trooper, killing him instantly. His swiped his tail once more to fling off the intestines that hanged between his tail segments.

_That trooper was lucky to be killed so fast_, he thought, _I'll have to avoid doing that_.

If he flew, then the turrets would be able to target him and take him out. He ran toward the base and heard the screech of Karolyn as she emerged out of the pod and saw a red flash as she sent second sweep of fire across the field, killing a few more troopers. He looked back and saw troopers shooting at nothing and suddenly having the energy-scythe of a cloaked commando burst through their chest. Their commanders tried to install order in their troops, but they were too busy screaming and shooting mindlessly to hear the orders of their superior's.

Apparently, they had only intended to only stop an orbital attack. They hoped that a single PDGF-Cruiser would be enough. For all of their resources and technology, they were certainly an idiotic organization. _No matter_, he thought.

Five soldiers jumped from the corner of a turret tower and fired missiles at him. Three hit him squarely in the torso while the other two streaked off into the night sky behind him. He grasped his chest a breathed heavily; it hurt, but not as bad with his improved chest plate.

He opened his jaws, lurched forward and clenched down on the shoulder of a trooper and ripped apart his upper body. The spinal cord flailed wildly as blood sprayed all over him and the troopers who began to run away.

He was about to torch them when an orange blade formed in the dark and slashed across two of the trooper's chest. The necks of the other three unexpectedly turned sharply sideways, sending a disgusting crack across Ridley's ears, and making their bodies slump lazily towards the ground. The floating blade made a motion of something that resembled a solute and disappeared.

"_Hmm…these commandos are more effective than I had anticipated_," he mused.

"They certainly do come in handy," Karolyn commented.

Ridley snapped off and continued toward the base. The flash of gun and laser fire filled the sky, and screams echoed against the metal towers decorated with the blood of his hated foe. He forgot how much he _loved_ this part of the job.

Out of the corner of his eye, He saw it.

The generator was ten feet long and five feet high, and on either side of it was a seven-foot Trooper-Mech. He read about them in the Pirate databanks, but he never had encountered one before. They each had a dual-cannon located on their left wrist and an energy-scythe projector in their right. They were heavily armored, and from what he could tell, would be most entertaining to defeat.

Then, something flashed through his memory. The Pirates wanted the GF technology left as intact as possible. Surely, this would be a good prize for the Mother-Brain. Yes, it would be a very good prize indeed.

The two mechs lifted their right arms and opened fire. They lasers peppered across his armor as he ran towards them, his wings fully spread out, but the anti-grav netting not activated. It _actually_ stung!

_Most impressive, they seemed to be getting smarter. _

He lept into the air and clasped his talons against the head of the mech. He reached his arm back, and bashed it through the cockpit and pulled out the pilot. The skull as crushed underneath his powerful grip. He tossed the body out and licked the blood of his nail. Ah, that brought back memories.

He stepped off the mech, and sent it toppling towards the ground. He felt a sharp pain across his back and realized it was the energy-scythe. He turned around and blocked a second strike. He was temporarily stunned by this action, then the machine pulled its left arm back and rammed its fist up towards Ridley's chin.

He stumbled backwards, confused over what just happened. The machine came at him with a full charge and tackled him to the ground. And tried to stab through the plating on his chest, but only sent sparks spraying across its black cockpit.

_What? How can they design machines this well?_

Ridley swerved his tail around and swiped the mech off of him. The machine quickly recovered and charged at him once again. He jumped up and thrust his claws towards the machine with the intention of digging his claws into the horrid shell and pulling out the audacious trooper. But, the machine reached out and grabbed his fist, and swung its right arm's energy-scythe down on Ridley.

Quickly, Ridley brought his forearm above his head and blocked the scythe.

His eyes shifted from his left arm, trying to release itself from the mech's grip, to his right arm, whose nalrynium plating was beginning to glow red from the energy-scythe. _This is enough_, he thought. He opened his mouth and sent his flame-breath melt away the cock-pit glass.

He reached his arm through and pulled the struggling pilot out of his seat. He brought it up to his face. It gave him a cold steely look. He has held humans in a death grip before, but this one was different, it didn't beg for its life like they always did, with the exception of Samus.

It continued to stare, and finally said, "Go ahead and kill me you scaly son-of-a-bitch."

Ridley cocked his head and gave a grin that showed all eighty-eight of his teeth and replied, "As you wish."

Slowly, but steadily he tightened his grip on the human. It struggled and groaned under the pressure. Ridley could hear the bones beginning to break, the delicate organs begin to rupture. Blood began to pour where his claws were beginning to pierce through its flesh. Soon though, it died, without begging. _Interesting._

Ridley released his grip and flung the human off of his hand. He turned towards the generator and let his hateful fire obliterated it. He was growing tired of this game.

He switched to his long-range communicator and contacted the _Marauding Supremacy. _"Marauding Supremacy, this is Squad Commander Ridley. Target is destroyed, please send in assistance."

He waited a moment and received his reply. "Confirmed, now setting course for your sector. We will arrive in ten minutes. Congratulations Ridley. _Marauding Supremacy_ out." Said the ship's captain.

Once again, he succeeded. Once again he showed the Galactic-Federation horrors greater than the ones they inflicted upon him. He took a deep breath, expecting the overwhelming satisfaction that he had done what he had to do. That his actions were justified, and that he should take joy in his success. But, for the untold time, he didn't feel anything.

He just felt as he did when he first killed a GF-trooper a flash of content, but as soon as its limp body fell to the ground, the feeling disappeared. _That's strange_, he first thought. _Perhaps, I just need to kill another one._

Mission after mission. The scores of GF-personnel he had slaughtered, the blood that flowed from his claws, just the sight of a dead trooper filled him with glee, but it was never enough.

_Well, maybe next time_, he told himself. _Maybe next time there will be enough._


	4. Reluctant Acquaintances

It had been nine hours since they stormed the GF-compound. Ridley paced back-and-forth along the base's landing pad. The Mother-Brain was sending the compound's new commander and he had been charged to greet him and discuss the plans for it, much to Ridley's dislike.

Morning sunlight was beginning to pour over the compound. Ridley looked over what had been a battlefield not to long ago. The clean-up crews managed to do a remarkable job at removing the bodies and damaged equipment. If the sun had eyes, it never would've been able to suspect what had happened while it slept.

"How long 'till he gets here?" Karolyn's mental voiced sounded agitated. "I'm starving."

Ridley shook his head slightly. "What? You didn't have your fill last night?"

"You know I don't eat them, they taste terrible. Honestly, I don't know how you do it," Karolyn replied, sounding disgusted.

"Once he gets here, then we'll eat," Ridley retorted, beginning to get a bit annoyed.

"It might be better if we ate _before _he gets here. Otherwise we might find ourselves without food," she commented half-jokingly.

"Well, I can't say that I don't disagree with you. If we're lucky, the slob might overlook something, " Ridley said. "Ah, here is now."

Ridley's head craned upwards as a Space-Pirate cargo-ship was flying into the compound. The ship featured the usual ovoid cockpit, but it had an extra-large cargo storage compartment equipped with life support systems that could be seen on the outside. It produced a rather displeasing effect on the eye, but it was not nearly as grotesque as what was inside.

Slowly, the ship hovered over the landing pad at a slightly tilted angle, its engines dying down from a roar to a dull buzz as it descended onto the metallic platform. The ship groaned as its dependency on the engines waned and finally landed with a hard thump onto the platform. Ridley stood erect before the cargo doors with his claws behind his back.

"God, I hate him," commented Karolyn's voice as the metal doors of the cargo-ship began to pull apart.

"I know, I do too," Ridley said.

A steel ramp extended out of the dark interior of the cargo hold. Sick slithering sounds and heavy breathing could be heard inside. Heavy footsteps made their way towards the ramp.

First, his head emerged from the hold two-stories above the ground. He had a green snout that lead up to three wide, red eyes stared hungrily at anything he looked at. His mouth hung halfway open, thick saliva dripped down unchallenged along his crooked teeth and long tongue that lazily swung left and right. His three-holed gut bulged grotesquely out from his frame, which seemed to have been trapped to its heaving stomach. Somehow, he managed to move his proportionally small feet and walked off the ramp and stood in front of Ridley. He recalled at how he first thought the obese lizard simply acted as a large security door for Pirate bases. He had learned since then. He knew that an ingenious tactical mind rested behind that gluttonous gaze.

"Hello, Kraid. You seem to be as lively as ever," Ridley greeted with a dry smirk against his snout.

The large green head cocked over to its side, his fat sagging against his face. "Ah, Ridley, so good too see that the cloning process went successfully," Kraid responded. He mouth did not move while he spoke, for his jaws could not replicate language coherently. So, a vocalizer was attached on the side of his cranium, enabling him to speak with his thoughts. His artificial voice always sounded scaly and thick, adding to his sinister and sickening persona. "What is that death toll of yours now? Six?" He reared his flabby head back and his jowls bounced up and down as a throaty laugh escaped his throat.

Ridley fist began to tighten at his side. Kraid looked upon this with amusement. "Touchy as ever on that subject I see. Very well then, my dear friend." He lifted his bulk up and began to tread off the platform, breathing heavily as he went along. His head rotated left-to-right as he examined the compound from the landing pad. "They established a very good air-defense. A shame they invested too much of their attention in that particular area, so goes their undoing. Short-minded fools." His arms slung helplessly against his side as trudged his way off the pad.

"The Mother-Brain and I have collaborated on a plan for our newly acquired area." He stopped and glared down at Ridley, studying him with an eerily focused gaze. He looked back up and headed toward the cargo-elevator of the compound.

"We believe that the Galactic-Federation won't give up such a rich supply of Nalrynium so easily. They won't let this go without showing some pitiful resistance," he said sternly while staring straightforward. "It's very likely that they would have figured out we've taken over operations here. They will attempt to retrieve it very soon, in fact, I expect them to be making preparations for that feat at this moment."

"What about our campaign in the Tyrin region? They couldn't afford to send a full-scale attack force here. They're running dry as it is." Ridley stared up at Kraid, trying to hide his disgust of the creature.

"Your definition of attack force is small. An attack force doesn't necessarily need to be a multitude," Kraid lectured.

Ridley's eyes widened in realization. "Wait, do think…do you think that they'll send her?"

"With their resources being stretched so thin as it is, I believe that they don't really have any other alternatives."

"What exactly do you have planned for when she gets here? Our defenses aren't prepared for an assault from the Hunter," Ridley stated with a slight hint of urgency in his voice.

Kraid chuckled softly. "We should have a replacement generator running the turrets in about four hours, and we'll have four more _Assailants_ in orbit by tomorrow."

Ridley shook his head and said: "I've seen her ship, it's too fast to be hit by those turrets, and it's probably able to outrun the _Assailants_."

"Ah, but she won't see our _Assailants_, they'll be cloaked. The turrets will be mostly for effect, for the Hunter at least. She'll land on the outskirts somewhere and try to make her way into the compound. We will set up a group of disposable troops to put up a good show for her. Once the persistent bitch gets inside we'll lock the doors and you and Karolyn will attack her simultaneously. Should you fail, we have six _Assailants _in orbit, each carrying over four-hundred troopers." Kraid looked around. "Speaking of which, where is that infectious little Space-Dragon?"

Right on cue, Karolyn swooped down and landed right behind Kraid. He turned around sluggishly and gave a scaly sound of surprise. "Ah Karolyn, my darling, its been far too long."

"Ugh, not nearly long enough," she thought. Ridley received this and surpressed a laugh.

"What happens after we kill her?" Karolyn questioned.

"Well, depending on you and Ridley's method of death we will either salvage as much of that marvelous suit as possible, or be thankful that an _extremely_ annoying thorn has been removed," Kraid explained.

"Very well then, I've always wanted to try my claw against this Hunter," Karolyn said.

Kraid nodded approvingly at this expression. He stepped onto a cargo elevator that led to the depths of the compound. Karolyn and Ridley stayed off.

"What is the status on the PDGF-cruiser?" Ridley asked.

"Ah, yes, the cruiser. The _Marauding Supremacy_ was quickly able to subdue it. The boarding teams have managed to dispatch most of the crew members, although there are still some stragglers that are being most troublesome."

"You wouldn't happen to have any information on our drop-ship pilot?"

Kraid's eyes widened slightly, he turned and stared at Ridley. "That foul-mouthed old bag? Yes, the _Assailants_ arrived and he was giving that cruiser a run for its targeters. His ship did take a few hits, but it's still useable. He's being returned to our base on Xivex-8. Now, I'm quite hungry, if you'll excuse my haste, I will be going to my post now. Would either of you like to join me?" His head quickly glanced over both of them for a response, holding it longer over Karolyn.

"No, that's fine, I'm not really hungry at the moment." Karolyn answered.

"Yes, I'm afraid that I have other business that I need to look over." Ridley excused. "Oh, do you happen to know if they have brought my ship?"

Kraid tilted his head slightly. "I believe they did, yes." His eyes stared oddly at Ridley. His tiny arm quickly flew out and pressed a button that started the elevator's descent.

Karolyn turned from the elevator and began to walk. "God," Karolyn shuddered. "He's a vile thing. Did you see the way he was looking at me?"

"Yes, best to ignore it. He stares at everything that way." Ridley reassured.

"I know, but it's just…I just hate him! Why did you ask about your ship?"

"I'd like to learn about our pilot. I have a very strange feeling about him. I'm going to go call it in." Ridley said and headed toward the main radio tower.

"Fine. I don't think that he _completely_ ruined my appetite. I'm going to get something to eat," she said.

Kraid stood still on the elevator. His breathing was the only thing audible over the loud grind of the elevator. Ridley was asking questions. Mother-Brain would want to know about this as soon as possible. Yes, yes she would.


	5. Revelations

"Calm down, Ridley, just breathe," Karolyn urged to Ridley over their comlink. She quickly leaped into the air to go and try to figure out the situation.

"No...I can't do that! My God!" Ridley shudered. His mind was spinning out of control. Karolyn could barely understand what he was sending to her. She could hardly even believe it.

"You have to calm down. Take a deep breath, please." She was trying to keep a leveled head, but she could tell that her voce was begining to take on a shaky tone. She started to flap her wings as fast as she could to get to his ship.

"They did it! God, they did it," he thought painfully. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't take it. His vision started to blur. He frantically paced back-and-forth along his red ship. His breathing started to quicken, his pulse increased, and he could feel the fire starting to build up in his chest.

She swooped down to his location. The Space-Dragon was close to going insane. She grabbed him by the shoulders and said: "Ridley listen, you need to calm down. I'm going to call a medic." Karolyn was starting to lose it as well. She was able to make out what was causing him to act like this. Her mind began to race with similar possibilities about herself.

"Oh please, don't let it be that." she thought to herself desperately.

Ridley broke away from her grasp, causing Karolyn to recoil with surprise from his action. He grabbed onto his head and shook it violently. His nails left deep scratch marks on his metal-plated face as he pulled them off.

"No, don't call any of those damned things! Don't let them touch me," Ridley unconciously yelled out. His voice had taken on a scaly characteristic and was laced with panic. His legs started to buckle. "God, they did it!" He fell on his knees and began to bash against the steel landing pad, forming deep imprints with each blow. The sound of his fury echoed throughout the compound.

"You need to stop it. You can't be doing this!" She was begging him at this point. Seeing him act this way after so many years of her knowing him made her feel...frightened. Ridley was the most substantial Space-Dragon she knew. All of the other precious few dragons in the Pirate's service just lacked the type of integrity that he had. If this horrid truth had caused him to break down like this, then what could it do to her? She felt the tears starting to build up behind her eyes. "Ridley...please."

He heard her. He stopped banging against the ground and took a deep, shuddering breath. Small bits of flame and smoke emerged as he slowly let it out.

"They killed her," he said coldly. "They killed my mother." That was it, he couldn't take it any more. He stood up and opened his mouth and made an ear piercing screech as a tower of fire erupted from his jas. Tear ran down his face.

Meanwhile, deep underneath the compound, Kraid shook his head at the venting frustrations of the Space-Dragon. He looked over at the communication screen that showed the quivering flesh of the Mother-Brain.

"Rather ungraceful, don't you think? One would think he would have a bit more sense than that," he observed.

"He was a bit more resourceful with his ship's computer than I anticipated. His emotional reaciton is to be expected of course. No doubt his view toward us will be hostile," said the Mother-Brain.

"What course of action do you suggest?" Kraid dared to hope.

"I would deem termination to be the proper course of action," she declared. "We can regrow him quickly and develop a proper excuse for his death."

Kraid smiled slighlty, and asked: "What about Karolyn?"

The Mother-Brain contemplated this for a moment. "She'll be destrustful of us as well. But we may be able to salvage her. If she shows any aggression however, kill her."

His head drooped slightly at this, folds of fat began to squeeze outwards. "Very well then, Mother-Brain. I'll give the orders to the Commandos at once." And with that the communicatrion screen went black.

A group of seven commandos rushed onto the landing-pad. Karolyn turned toward them and asked fiercely, "What do you want?"

His crooked neck quickly twisted over to the Pirate. His eyes glowed with a malice-filled red. There they were. His arm shot out and grabbed the Pirate's head. the creature struggled violently under Ridley's grip as he squeezed on its skull until it crushed under the pressure.

He quickly dropped the oozing body to the ground. His arm was covered in the Pirate's body fluids. Ridley stared at it with wild eyes and shook his head slowly.

The remaining Pirates were intesely focused on the corpse of their fallen comrade. They all pulled out their weapons and fired on Ridley.

The rounds scattered across Ridley's armored body harmlessly. His mind started to stabilize a bit. He knew what he had to do. Ridley took a deep breath and arched toward the Commandos and shot a blast of fire at them. They tried to run, but were quickly engulfed in the charring flame. Their screams reverberated throughout the compound, causing the secruity sirens to go off.

Karolyn was stunned by what she just witnessed. She couldn't believe what was happening. "What are you doing?" She yelled at him. "You just killed seven Pirates!"

"They killed my mother!" He thundered.

Ridley fell against the back of his ship. The images from the mission's video he saw just minutes ago began to run trhough his mind again. He saw the stolne GF-gunship fly over the paradise planet of his youth. He heard when the Pirates gave the order to open fire on his mother. He remembered the acknowledgment of orders from the pilot who had delivered them to this planet only so many hours ago.

He saw his mother die under the cruel and immoral hands of the Space-Pirates for the second time. Except now his eyes weren't blinded by Pirate deception.

He felt his heart absorb this fact with a sickening sens of dispair he hadn't felt in a excrutiatingly long time. He looked up and saw a mass of Pirates making their way toward him.

"Does the Mother-Brain know by now?" He thought to himself, suddenly not caring whether or not Karolyn Heard. He reasoned so, nothing escaped that thing's eye.

Karolyn stood aside from Ridley, not knowing what to think of the situation. Ridley looked up at her and said, "They're going to try and kill me. It's no devastating loss to them. They'll just make up some excuse to explain my deat." He examined his mechanically enhanced arm. "It could be faulty wiring in my augmentations. A fatal faw in my design killed me and caused a malfunciton in my memory-collection chip." He took a deep breath and continued. "They'll just tell you to be quiet and not to mention this ever again," he said over the increasing volume of the approaching Pirates.

She looked at him and shook her head and said, "I can't do that. I don't even know what tehy might've done with me." She suddenly felt a deep loathing toward the revolting insectioid creatures that were rushing toward their position. She recalled the tragic day she came into Pirate service. She turned away from him as a hot tear ran down her face.

"Then they'll try to kill you to," Ridley said with a sad finality. He turned toward the Pirates and flashed his wings out and brought the tips together. An orange charge of electricity raced up from his chest, along the skeletal structure of his wings, and finally into an orange ball that collected in the front of his wing tips.

He swung his wings outward and a batch of eight meson-bombs were launched out of the collection of energy and scattered toward the onslaught.

The field exploded in a mass of fire, dirt and body parts. There were no stragglers left, only the burnt and twitching remains fo the first wave. Ridley saw the field of destruction but felt no momentary flash of satisfaction. He wondered why. He knew now they truly were the ones who had killed his mother, if anything this should've been the most satisfying kill he ever made. But he only felt emptied by the action.

Karoly did not make a sound. She simply stared at the compound and the rumbling of the second wave of Pirates beginning to emerge from inside. She stared solemnly at Ridley closed her eyes.

He then hurled balls of fire at the sorrounding turrets. Huge chunks of fiery metal crashed onto the ground, making the area more difficult to traverse.

Ridley pressed a button on his wrist and the ramp to his ship slid down. He took another deep breath and walked inside. He turned back and saw Karolyn walking in behind him. He studied her expression, or the lack of it. She appeared...stolen. Ridley had never seen her like this, and it disturbed him.

"God, how can they do this?" Karolyn thought.

"We of all people should know," he answered. "We were 'they'."


	6. Consequence

"Sir, she's broken in through sub-level eighteen. Squad thirteen through twenty-six have been completely decimated!" The sound of the Space-Pirate Secondary-Commander was one of absolute terror.

_Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! _

Kraid already knew that his chances of survival were slim. He was at least twenty levels below her current location, but he could already hear the wanton destruction she was causing.

_How did she get here so fast?_

The green reptile put a com-mike up to his vocalizer and ordered "Send in squads 28 and A-122 to sub-level 20. Disable all elevator shafts and place two grenadiers each at lift entrances SL-21 to SL-30."

There was a slight delay in his orders when a shaky voice picked up on the other end of the communication systems. "Sir, she's hacked into the security systems, all sentry turrets have been reprogrammed to fire on Space-Pirate technology."

"Damn it all," he roared. Long, yellow claws quickly stabbed at his communication array. "_Marauding Supremacy, _this is the Primary-Commander, do you copy?"

A gruff voice broke through on an extremely static channel. "Sir, this is the Captain of the _Marauding Supremacy, _we are under heavy defensive fire from planetside. Our shield capacity is at twenty-seven percent and falling, what the hell is going on down there?"

Kraid let out another screech of irritation. "Why haven't you opened fire on the turrets yet?" he bellowed.

"Sir, the sentry turrets had targeted our weapon systems and opened fire before we could bring up the shields, we don't have…wait…" the captain's voice trailed off. "Sir, _Uprising Conflict_ has been destroyed. We're going to pull out of sentry range and call for pick-up."

"Damn it, listen," he yelled louder for the sound of destruction was boring down on him. "If you so much as break orbit, I will personally see to it that your entrails will be pulled out through your mouth, tied to a pipeline, and have you dangle over a Xivexian dog-pit!" The gargantuan lizard was in to bad a mood to let any _Pirates_ make their way out of this heap with their exoskeletons still attached.

"Sir, I mu-" the captain's voice vanished in a wave of static.

Yellow claws once again tooled with the communications array. He knew this was not going to turn out in any favorable way. A huge explosion from above him sent shockwaves throughout the compound. Pieces of metal banged against his scaly head, temporarily setting him off balance.

Kraid placed the mike back to his vocalizer. "Secondary Commander, I want a battle report."

"Sir, she's in sub-level thirty-five. We are sustaining massive damage, all squads have been eliminated."

"How in the hells did you lose all squads?"

"The secruity drones were activated, they caught us by surprise. Most of them have been destroyed by now."

"The squads were killed by _security drones?_" Kraid could barely take this all in. _Security drones?_ This was an insult.

"Sir, the drones only took out eighteen squads. All the rest were eliminated by the Hunter," the secondary commander explained pitifully.

_How is that bitch doing this? There were at least three hundred troops in this base!_

"What's your troop count?" Kraid demanded.

The secondary commander answered with a shaky finality, "Sir, I have six grenadiers, and two commandos with me, we've-" another explosion rocked the compound. "Sir, she's in sub-level thirty-seven, we're now taking defensive positions."

There was a long silent pause. Perspiration was smeared all over the crocodilian monstrosity.

A voice erupted over Kraid's mike. "Open fire!"

Kraid switched off the mike. He no longer had to hear the commander's reports to know that the situation was already compromised.

The sound of ammunition fire only two levels above his head ceased.

The lizard listened with all intensity. He could hear the very subtle footsteps of the now unopposed Hunter.

He didn't try to disillusion himself with any ideas of victory. He knew she would kill him.

"Damn you Ridley," he said with as much inflection of loathing he could muster.

The grinding wheels of an elevator began to grow as it lowered itself down to his level.

The elevator settled to the ground with a loud _thunk_. Slowly, the shaft doors pulled apart to show the reviled bitch inside.

She looked different, this time, much more…formidable. Kraid lifted an arm and pressed a small red button in the back of his head. All his memories up to his point of death would be uploaded into the Pirate database on Xivex-8. His memories would then be transferred to a cloned body, and then he would take one hell of a thrashing from the Mother-Brain.

He didn't care though. As long as he would still get to see Ridley's head hang on a pike for this.

With heavy footsteps, the Hunter approached.

Kraid's eyes burst open and slammed back shut because of the bright floodlights focused on him.

"That was a very disappointing display of your tactical skills, Kraid," said the Mother-Brain in an irritable tone.

The lizard's head bobbed dizzily from left to right. He opened his eyes just enough to see the Mother-Brain on a communication screen. "How long?" he mumbled.

"It's only been three hours. Luckily, we have an emergency body for situations such as this." Electrical sparks danced across the spiky nodes placed in her cerebral mass. "You're the only one left from that disaster, I demand you to give me a report."

Kraid let out a growl of disgust. "It was the Hunter. She's something else now, not like before. She's going to be problem."

The single eye of the Mother-Brain flashed wide open and she said with all seriousness, "Kraid, my child, I'm afraid the Hunter is the least of our problems now."


	7. Retrospection

Karolyn carefully traced her claw along the scaly length of her hazel arm until she felt a slight irregularity. Her eyes focused on it with a quiet ferocity.

"This must be it," she muttered to Ridley who sat on the opposite end of the spacious cabin in his ship.

He gave a slight nod back to her. "Pull it out."

Two claws pinched down on either side of the bump. Quickly, she pressed her talons together, piercing her hide and making a small trickle of blood drip onto the cold steel floor. With an ever so slight wince of pain, she pulled out the homing device.

She examined the small cylindrical device and snapped it abruptly and, with a slight flick of her wrist, threw it to the ground in disgust. Her eyes glanced back to the self-inflicted wound, which was already starting to heal over.

"So, they can't follow us now?"

"No, I've pulled my tracker out and disabled the ship's transmission frequency. We're more or less safe for now," he explained.

Karolyn made a small acknowledgment and leaned back against the wall and wrapped her wings around herself. The warm embrace being the only one she's ever known for a long time.

There was only the faintest hum of the ship's engines in the room. Both Space-Dragons were in deep contemplation, wondering what exactly to do next. Ridley simply sat hunched over on the strong metal bench and ran his claw over the deep scratches on his metal faceplate. Deep quiet breaths escaped from his nostrils as his orange eyes focused on the absolute nothingness on the floor.

Karolyn glanced upon Ridley with a half-casualness. She couldn't tell what he was thinking; he turned off his com-link, as did she. Her thoughts were far too intimate at the moment to let him unwittingly catch every little detail that flittered through her mind. She softly blinked a heavy eyelid that was gaining more weight with every passing moment.

_What are we doing?_

She didn't know. Quickly she shook her head. The world was becoming too bright for her.

She blinked again.

"Are we going to be okay?" she asked to the Space-Dragon sitting on the other side of the room.

But it wasn't Ridley that looked back at her and replied, "Of course we are."

Karolyn fidgeted in the dark, grimy cargo hold of the smuggler ship. "How much longer until we get there?"

Her older brother looked back at her and answered "It should take a few more hours. You should get some sleep, you'll need to be alert once we land."

_Oh no, not again._

"I always need to be alert, that's exactly what mommy is always telling us," she retorted. "Mommy and Daddy will be there once we land, won't they?"

Her brother quickly smothered a painful twinge that threatened to surface. With all the concentration he could muster, he muttered, "Of course they will." He turned his head away from her glance.

_Why did you lie to me? Why did you make me learn the way I did?_

"Good, I can't wait to see them," the little Space-Dragon piped. "How come we have to be down here?"

"It was the best Mom and Dad could do. You really should get some sleep." Her brother nervously looked around the room and muttered something unintelligible to himself.

The whole ship rocked slightly to its left, causing the lights to flicker momentarily.

_No, no, no! Not this, don't let it happen again._

Karolyn's head picked up. "What was that?"

_Please Castor, don't get up._

"I don't know." He stood up, his brown wings as spread out as much as his cramped quarters would allow. His clawed finger lifted up at her, "Go hide in the corner, don't make any noise."

"Why?" she asked, fear slowly crawling into her voice.

"Just do it," he ordered. Loud stomping reverberated through the steel walls.

Under the authority of her brother, she scampered behind a heavy cargo crate that reeked of something unpleasant. Her eyes peeked out from behind the crate, and she saw her brother take refuge on top of a stack of steel drums that extended out into the shadows of the room.

_Please, wake up._

Loud shouting was heard on the outside of the cargo hold's doors. The shouts turned into screams. Then the screams were drowned out in laser fire. Then it all just cultivated into eerie silence.

Karolyn could only hear her soft breaths that pierced the stagnation in the cargo-hold. The seconds passed as though they were hours. Lights blinked on and off in the cargo hold.

_Don't do it._

Her head cautiously moved outwards as she tried to get a better view of the cargo door.

Her brother didn't catch himself as a loud "Don't" slipped passed his teeth. At that moment a blinding flash erupted from the door, and deafening screeches raced across the room

Screams from her brother found their way to her ears. She scrambled across the white field calling for her brother. A rough arm gripped hers and she emptied her lungs as fire erupted from her mouth.

"Karolyn, what the hell are you doing?" Ridley yelled out.

Her eyes flashed open. She quickly looked up and saw a black stain across the wall and ceiling of the cabin. Ridley held her arm tightly with a wild look of confusion and concern across his face.

She stood up straight and asked, "What happened?" Her tail coiled nervously around her feet. Smoke came out of her mouth as she breathed.

Ridley placed a reassuring hand on her back and said calmly, "You fell asleep, and then you started screaming. I tried to wake you, but apparently that was a bad move." He looked at her in the eyes. "What kind of nightmare was that?"

She turned away from him and said in a strained voice: "God, if only it was a nightmare." She placed her head into her hands and started shook her head.

_Why did I do that? Why did I do that?_

Ridley approached her and placed a hand on the Space-Dragon's shoulder. "Well calm down, its going to be alright."

That was it. She turned around and stared at him fiercely with sharp red eyes. "What do you mean? Ridley, we don't even know what the hell we're doing. You and I both know there's hardly a rock in this galaxy that hasn't been rotted by Pirate hands." Her eyes glazed over and her voice began to shaken. "What are we doing?"

He found himself unable to say anything. He didn't know. His mind raced for a reason to go on.

"I hate them so much," she cried.

_They killed you. All these years and I didn't know. Why did I do it?_

She steadied herself against the wall and shook as she breathed erratically. "I don't know anymore." She started to cry against her will. "What are we doing?"

Ridley stood next to her as she was breaking down in front of him. He needed to do something. She did the exact same thing for him a few hours ago. He could barely stand to see her like this. As quickly as the thought winked in his mind, he embraced her.

Karolyn was surprised by the move, but did not show opposition to it. Her breathing steadied as she was slowly rocked in his arms. She quickly turned towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck and placed her head over his shoulder. Her eyes closed in the comfort of his metal caress.

He could feel her hand moving across his back through his steel plating, but it wasn't the same as touching his skin. He didn't care though.

"Why did you come?" Ridley asked quietly.

"I've been alone for too long," she said softly. "I couldn't have let you go and leave me behind with them."

Ridley was unable to imagine leaving her behind anymore. How did she ever manage to stay this way under the Pirate's corrupting grip? He looked at his metal-plated arm, the ever-present reminder of his years of being the Pirate's _dog._ He felt disgusted with himself.

A few tears still fell from Karolyn's eyes. She pulled her head back and looked at him. "What are we doing Ridley?"

"Whatever we have to," he answered.

She placed her head back over his shoulder and closed her eyes once more.


End file.
